Heritage

The restoration of historical architecture in Istanbul has been a fraught issue in the modern period. Istanbul is a city with a 6000-year-old history dating to the Neolithic period with layers upon layers of archaeological remains. Modern architecture and urban planning have often had to contend with these layers causing great disruptions to exist historical and archaeological traces of the city’s past. The embedded geological, structural, and cultural past of Istanbul has in most cases been roughly repurposed and often completely destroyed in the modern period. The needs of the modern city, especially roads for automobiles and new dense urban commercial centers meant that prominent buildings from the Byzantine and Ottoman eras were largely erased from the cityscape. Buildings with architectural value such as the Ottoman İncili Köşk near the Topkapi Palace or the Direklerarası Byzantine era arcade in Fatih were razed in the 20th century due to the growth of the city’s roads.

Arzamas is an old town with an interesting history and rich cultural and economic traditions. The Gaidar Park is the most popular recreational space among both local residents and tourists but its infrastructure, as well as its functional and commercial programs, don’t meet the modern standards of quality public space. As a result, in 2018 more than 60% of participants voted for the Gaidar Park to be renovated. Municipal authorities together with the park management team set up activities to engage public participation in discussion and planning. Later IRGSNO joined the project and created the architectural concept which was later won in the Federal Contest «Small Towns and Historical Settlements».

The proposal involved the consolidation and conservation of the different defensive elements, as well as the creation of a space for the interpretation of the wall of the Alcázar of Arjona, which would help to raise awareness, enhance the value and publicize this defensive complex. This is a public space for tourist and cultural use made up of various areas that coincide with the original starts, dispositions, and heights of the remains of the various known wall structures: the moat space, an accessible area where the museum materials are located for the interpretation of the medieval remains; the liza space, which maintains the dimensions and separation between the original remains that helps the spatial interpretation of the defensive structures; the podium space and the interior of the tower with staircase access which, together with the upper volume of the tower, receives a new constructive formalisation.